Key Points

At the closing of the trading in the stock markets today, the BSE Sensex was at 80,710.25, slipping over 308 points or 0.38 per cent, while the Nifty 50 at National Stock Exchange (NSE) was down 73.20 points or 0.30 per cent at 24,649.55.

During the trading, about 1708 stocks advanced, 2184 stocks declined, and 143 stocks remained unchanged.

"Following fresh tariff threats from President Donald Trump, both the benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex came under intense selling pressure in the first hour of the trade before consolidating in a range for the remaining part of the day," said Sudeep Shah, Head - Technical and Derivatives Research at SBI Securities.

Ajay Bagga, banking and market expert, said, "Trump tantrums are overlaying an otherwise sea of green across global markets. Indian markets bounced back from oversold levels on Monday in line with a global markets recovery from Asia to Europe to USA."

A new social media post by Trump threatening levy of secondary tariffs on India for buying Russian crude oil became a source of worry.

Observing the markets, Ashika Institutional Equities in a note said caution prevailed ahead of monetary policy announcement.

"Ahead of tomorrow's monetary policy announcement, caution prevailed, and banking stocks came under renewed selling pressure during the second half of the session."

Among the Nifty constituents, the top four stocks by weightage namely HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and Infosys witnessed strong selling which weighed on the index. Nifty Oil & Gas and Nifty Pharma emerged as top losers while Nifty Auto & Nifty Metal closed with gains.

The weak sentiment extended to the broader markets as well. Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty SmallCap 100 also ended in the red, falling 0.39 per cent and 0.16 per cent respectively.

"Market breadth was decisively negative, with 310 stocks out of the Nifty 500 ending in the red," said Sudeep Shah.

Nifty has been moving in a narrow range forming NR3 pattern on the daily chart.

According to the SBI Securities note, the index has been holding on to its 100 EMA support, which is placed at 24596, since the last three sessions.

The daily RSI has been hovering around the 40 mark while the ADX, a key trend strength indicator, has been moving up quietly, settling marginally above the 25 mark, indicating early signs of momentum shifting in the favor of bears.

Post the narrow range pattern formation, the price likely experiences a significant move in either direction, as these patterns indicate period of low volatility and consolidation.

In today's trading session, Bank Nifty underperformed its peers, with losses in HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, weighing on the Index.

- ANI